Descriptive statistics may be used to quantitatively describe a collection of data gathered from several sources, in order summarize features of the data, and electronic communications generate data trails that can be used to formulate statistics. Email records, for example, may be parsed to identify a sender of an email, a topic or subject of the email, and one or more recipients of the email. Similarly, phone records provide information that may be used to identify a caller and a recipient of a phone call.
Descriptive statistics are not developed on the basis of probability theory and, as such, are not used to draw conclusions from data arising from systems affected by random variation. Inferential statistics, on the other hand, are based on probability theory and are used to draw conclusions from data that is subject to random variation.
Social behavior, such as communications behavior, may involve uncertainty. In this case, inferential statistics, either alone or in combination with descriptive statistics, may therefore be applied to data reflecting the social behavior to draw inferences about such behavior.